cry me a river
by Bananas-are-evil
Summary: post x men first class, AU, Charles still got shot but he will recover and it was Shaw who shot him not Erick. basically this is just all my cherick feelings throw into a cute little fic which will hopefully entertain.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! I hope you really enjoy this fic and I hope it sustains your cheric feels!

Enjoy…..

Chapter 1

"Is he awake?" Erick's voice was harsh and on the verge of breaking under the pain that was weighing down on his chest, he couldn't remember that last time he cried but he felt like one bad word from the surly looking doctor in front of him would send him in to a fit of sobs and tears that would never end.

On the other side of the stark white hospital door laid the most important thing in the world, or so it seemed to Erick lehnsherr; Charles Xavier.

"No he is not awake yet but he will in about quarter of an hour so I suggest someone who he would want to see should be in there when he wakes up" the woman stared at the frankly strange collection in the waiting room, they all looked as if it was there father is that room but they were all older teenagers and the man she just operate don couldn't have this many teenage children, surely? There was one exception, an older man who wore a look she saw a lot around this part of the hospital, the look a wife gave her husband as he went for major heart surgery or the look the elderly couple give each other as they both are told that one of them has untreatable cancer tumours scattered through their body but this look was unnecessary as the young man on whom she had worked on was going to live and eventually be okay, he would need about a year of physiotherapy but he would live a normal happy life in the end, she thought distinctly pleased with her work for that day all she wanted to do was to go home and have a nice warm bath and a glass of wine, but that was not going to happen because the questions had started.

"Is he okay? What's the damage?" it was not the older man who spoke, which is what she expected, it was a young woman he looked drawn and guilty.

"he will need a bit of physiotherapy but he will be fine in time" as she said the work therapy a very pretty young girl sitting on one of the hard moulded plastic chairs let out a harsh and humourless laugh. The doctor gave her very little attention as she had seen much weirder things inside the hospital walls. She looked around to see where the older man had gone as she could no longer feel him staring at her but as she turned to look for him she heard him shout.

"He's waking up!" his voice sounded half amazed and half shit scared.

The doctor rolled her eyes slightly as her bath slipped further and further away but she did want to assess this man herself, as he had been rushed in she doesn't even know his name or age but she knows that he has a mole on him bottom that resembles a strawberry.

With her cheeks slightly red she entered the room, she went straight to his chart which had be haphazardly thrown by his feet as they past reception on their way up to his room which was one of the nicer ones the hospital had to offer.

She looked down at the chart in front of her

Name: Charles Francis Xavier

Born: July 13, 1940

Those were the only two things that grabbed her attention as the rest was all medical information which she knew because her assistant and shouted it at as she prepared to cut him open.

The dark haired man on the bed was starting to open his eyes which were a dazzling shade of blue, he looked tired.

"Erick?" he moaned as he tried to sit up, the doctor was not stupid but she was also not cruel which she was extremely glad of when the older man whom she assumed was Erick, looked at her with his dark green eyes imploring her to allow him to react in the way he would like to rather than the way that was sociable acceptable, to show her acceptance she moved and closed the door and as soon as the lock clicked the older man stood over Mr Xavier and brushed some wayward hair of his forehead, although she felt like she was intruding she watched this display of affection with love in her heart rather than disgust or hatred as she know they would get form the outside world.

"Mr?" she was addressing the older man now because as much as she appreciated the sentiment of the situation she need to assess her patient.

"Erick" was all the other man said, he was still looking the man in the bed with an expression of complete ore.

"Well, Erick I appreciate the emotions you must be feeling but I need to assess Mr Xavier" she tried to keep her tone as low and understanding as possible.

It was not Erick he spoke it was Xavier.

"My father was Mr Xavier, I'm Charles" she appreciated someone with a good sense of humour.

"okay Charles I'm going to assess your head, eyes, neck and your back okay?" ten years in medicine had made it so she could almost never sound condescending but she felt slightly uneasy that she might of insulted his intelligence just then.

"You didn't" Charles said softly, it was almost as if he was answering her worry.

"What?" she asked a little apprehensively.

"Nothing, where are the children?" he was no longer speaking to her and she decided to let it go and just carry out her assessment, he passed with flying colours.

Erick considered himself a very cautious man but when Charles' first words after being shot where his own name he could no longer deny the love he felt for that man but there was the problem of the doctor, he looked at her trying to appeal to her compassion and he succeed because her only reaction was to close the door, he knew the children would not like that they were shut out but he knew what was coming and he didn't want them to see the amount of blood on Charles' bandages or his wound, he wasn't sure he wanted to see them himself but he didn't really care.

As soon as he knew the doctor would not have him arrested he bent over Charles and put his hands over his face just memorising the feel of him because he had never done it before which seemed stupid post gunshot wound, he tried desperately to remember the reasons he kept his feeling under wraps but he couldn't all of them seemed so redundant now.

The doctor was talking to him but he wasn't really paying her much attention but he felt his moth move in reply to her unheard question, the she started to examine Charles he tried to crack some stupid joke that made Erick feel sick, he couldn't believe this man.

One thing that he did notice was that he answer the doctor's thoughts rather than her question so then he covered it up my asking about the children who were all outside and Erick was pretty sure he knew that.

The children entered in single file all looking varied degrees of awful, lucky someone had the foresight to get everyone normal clothes, Erick wasn't sure who but he looked down to see he wasn't still wearing his bright yellow get up, the only child who was not there was hank who obviously not be out in public because of his blueness so he was back in the car that Alex had stolen to get them here, Charles won't like that Erick thought solemnly but it was a life or death situation.

I understand but I don't agree.

Charles' voice slid into his head like silk and felt like a familiar blanket.

What happened?

Erick blanched for a second as he tried to think of a less violent and distressing was for telling someone there were shot.

I am a big boy Erick I can handle the truth

Erick decided he was right and just let the events of the previous day unfold.

When he was finished Erick tore his eyes from Charles who was now talking softly to raven and looked around the room, the doctor had left and all of the children were there with the exception of hank, everyone looked on the verge of tears, they had all been through so much in the past 24 hours and the shock of maybe losing their father figure scared each and every one of them.

In the small but relatively nice hospital room there was a rather large window that was directly opposite Charles' bed, it didn't have much of a view because it was only looking over the vast car park but it did offer some fresh air, without really thinking about it Erick crossed the room in three strides and opened the window to let in the hot Miami air.

Thank you so much for reading! I'm going to leave this around to see if it gets any attention and if it does I will update regularly, please let me know if I've done anything wrong or you have some constructive criticism!


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoy….

Chapter 2

It had been three weeks since Charles had been shot and he was now sitting fully clothed in a wheelchair to which he argued about persistently but he was not strong enough to walk more than the three steps to the small bathroom on one side of his room and even then Erick had to help him to the door (Charles was adamant he could go by himself) he hadn't yet had a shower but just sponge baths everyday which he hated because the nurse who did them had a nasty habit of imagining rather graphic situation conspiring between her and Erick who was either outside the door of Charles' room or in the cafeteria getting coffee, Charles told himself that he didn't care that the woman liked Erick but that he just didn't like having to think of his friend like that, which was a total lie and Charles knew that but he wanted to focus on getting better physically before trying to decipher his rather complicated feelings towards his best friend.

He felt as though before the rather dramatic events that had conspired over the last six months he would have taken being shot much more seriously, not that he was not taking it seriously but he did not feel as distort and angry as he would have done before he had practically adopted three teenagers, he knew he would get better and that he would be able to walk and live as normal life as you can when you can read minds, so he was not terribly concerned, which, ironically, terribly concerned him.

Charles was going home, and it really was home now, he had real memories of happiness and joy in the Xavier house rather than memories of superficial parties and his parents pretending they cared in front of company.

"How will you be getting home Mr Xavier?" the soft voice of his nurse pulled Charles from his musing.

"I believe we are catching a flight at three." He replied charmingly.

"You've been a brilliant patient" she smiled coyly, Charles was bombarded with rather embarrassing thoughts but he was very good at pretending not to notice, so he just smiled back.

Luckily the awkward tension is the room that only Charles was aware of was diminished by Erick's entrance.

"Are you ready to go Charles?" Erick asked casually as he picked up Charles' bag.

"I am, my friend" Charles said with a smile, he was dying to get home and not have to worry about what the children were getting up to or if he was accidently answering someone's thoughts instead of their voice, when fully conscious and sober he had honed reading thoughts and not answering them to a T but when he was tried, in pain and under the influence of morphine the distinction had become a lot harder, he found Erick's thoughts the hardest to ignore mostly because for the past three weeks they had been a constant presents in his mind but it was also the nature of his thoughts, of course Charles had tried to not invade his friends privacy but there were many moments that he slipped and herd the jist of his best friends thoughts, this threw him in to turmoil about his ever so confusing feelings that surrounded Erick.

As a result of Charles' thoughts running away with him he found himself staring into the dangerous green eyes of his best friend.

"What's the matter with you old friend? You haven't complained once about the wheelchair" Erick said mockingly, sporting a cheeky half smile that only Charles could put on his face.

"Sorry my friend, I was miles away" Charles replied whilst yawning and rubbing his face.

"I was quite enjoying the peace" Erick replied jokingly.

As the arrived in the hospital lobby the darker haired man was hit with a wave of thoughts that made him wince, an emergency had just arrived and Charles could hear his screams with his ears and he could feel them in his mind. Erick, who knew the professor exceedingly well cottoned on to the situation almost eminently and quickened his pace to the car.

Getting Charles into the car was an awkward ordeal, his wound was still causing him a considerable amount of pain, so simply lifting him in was not an option, it took a lot of shuffling and painful winces but together they did it and they set of to Miami airport.

"How come we haven't had any visits from the ?" this had been bothering Charles but he hadn't had a chance to talk to Erick about it privately.

"They are pretending that Cuba didn't happen, that we weren't there. They are using that fact you got shot to stay away, I don't think they will bother us if we keep a low profile." Erick knew that Charles would spot the lie straight away but he felt better by saying it and thankfully Charles said nothing about it.

"Did you kill Shaw?" this was a question Erick had been expecting but that did not mean he had an answer that would satisfy Charles.

"He shot you Charles, of course I killed him" Erick's voice was rock solid but his heart was beating erratically in his chest, he didn't think he could face Charles' disappointment.

"Do not use me as an excuse my friend, you were going to kill him anyway." Charles surprised himself with the level of control he had over his voice, he was not angry as he expected to be, he was sad because he hated the fact the Erik felt he needed to kill to gain peace.

"Yes Charles I was, but the fact he shot you allowed me to justify it more than revenge for my own personal gain" Erick stated coolly, he did not want to fight with Charles but he would fight his corner if he had to.

"Okay my friend." Charles was an intelligent man and he knew when he was beaten and the more aggressive side of him was screaming 'what if it was Erick?'

The flight to New York was an uneventful one, but Charles could barely contain his excitement to see the children again. Raven was the first to embrace the dark haired man, she had missed him wickedly as he had been the biggest constant in her life for a long time and being apart from his sadden her. The others were a bit more awkward as they didn't not do very well at expressing their feelings but Charles knew they missed him all the same (being able to read their minds helped)

Everyone was gathered in the what used to be the formal living room but had been cunningly renamed the den by Alex who had insisted that they needed table tennis and a foosball table to liven the place up a bit and Charles being the softy that he was had allowed it. Everyone was there; the conversation was not exceptionally riveting but everyone was enjoying the atmosphere that Charles homecoming had created; raven sat on the arm of the sofa next to hank who was explaining his latest idea to her. Alex and Sean were playing table tennis rather violently. Charles was still in his wheelchair but it was pulled right up next to one of the plush sofas on which Erick sat, he was exceptionally tired, in the past three weeks he had not had a solid night's sleep, he slept in the car they had acquired most nights and other he spent just pacing to hospital corridors clutching to lukewarm coffee. Charles had insisted many times that he was a grown man who could stay in hospital by himself but Erick was a stubborn man, the metal bender was simply enjoying the relief that came with Charles' return.

"As much as I would like to just sit here all night I am in desperate need of a bath and a good long sleep." Even though the dark haired man had not spoken loudly everyone in the room heard him; they all reacted by say goodnight and displaying there affections in various ways; raven hugged him tight, hank shook his hand and told him it was nice to have him back, Alex threw his a nod and said 'night prof' as he wondered of to his bedroom for the night, but most surprising was Sean who gave Charles an awkward one armed hug and quickly left the room, the mind reader was touched by the love he felt for each and every one of them.

"Not tired?" Charles asked Erick who was still sat on the sofa; Charles knew for a fact the Erick was dead on his feet, he could almost taste the hue of exhaustion that clouded his closest friend's thoughts.

"I am but you said you wanted a bath" Erick replied casually, his voice was normal but his eyes were begging Charles to argue

"I am not a baby Erick I can bathe myself" even as he said the words he doubted them, he could barely stand let alone climb into a bath.

"I do not doubt your bathing abilities old friend but you have just been shot! You can't expect to be able to run be for you can walk" Erick raised his eyebrows at the younger man, daring him to challenge his logic but Charles only rolled his eyes which told Erick he had won.

Quoting me to me is unfair

Erick chuckled as he received the metal message, he had intentionally used Charles' own words against him, it seemed like so long ago that Charles had been couching them all to control and learn from their powers.

The whole bath situation was a whole lot of awkward, Charles had insisted that Erick could just lift him into the bath and that he would be able to undress whilst sitting down but this had not been as easy as he first anticipated, so eventually he had to cave and ask Erick for help, he spent the entire time with a face like a beetroot, he felt so useless and embarrassed but Erick really didn't care, nakedness did not bother him but he was respectful to Charles embarrassment and refrained from cracking jokes about his friends predicament, in actual fact it was not the nakedness that bothered Charles it was the lack of independence and if he was honest with himself it was just the humility of not being able to perform simple tasks.

All embarrassment aside the worst part of the whole ordeal was the removal of the mind readers dressings, as the bullet had entered his body just about the curve of his bottom he had yet to see the wound that the path of the bullet had left behind, he had been particularly careful not to read the minds of his nurses or doctors when it came to the physical appearance of the laceration, he was not sure why he could not face to see it but he knew he was not ready. Erick had seen so much violence in his life that a healing gunshot wound was not very traumatic but all the same it did linger in his mind.

"Could you think of something else please?" Charles sounded desperate which for a few seconds confused Erick but he quickly understood and started to translate as many songs he could think of into German.

"Thank you" the relief in Charles face and voice was evident.

Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Enjoy…..

Chapter 3

"Thank you raven" Charles was currently sitting at his writing desk in his study, it had been two months since he had been shot and he was nearly back to full health but that didn't mean that the occupants of the house took any notice when he insisted that he could sit at the kitchen table to eat lunch, in actual truth the hard backed chairs did nothing for the continual ach Charles felt in his lower back but the doctors had assured him that it was totally normal and would dissipate quickly, he was desperate for everything to go back to normal, or as normal as you can get with six mutants living in one house even if said house was huge.

Ever since Charles stopped needing help for simple tasks Erick became very distant, not by choice but because he knew that when Charles was in hospital and Erick wasn't sure if he would live or not, he let slip some thoughts that even thinking about made him blush, so he was keeping his distance but that was hard when he was strangely attracted to Charles; he would find himself aimlessly wondering the mansion between training sessions and meals and always find himself sitting in one of the plush leather covered sofas in Charles study playing chess with the very man he was trying to avoid.

"My friend, I think you forget I am a telepath" Charles stated casually as he moved his knight across the board.

"Pardon?" Erick was so caught up in his thoughts that he had not really registered what the younger man had said.

"You forget that even though I try very hard not to look into your mind I can still hear you when you think loudly" Charles seemed fine on the surface but his heart was betting abnormally fast for the activity he was doing and his palms were sweating considerably for Erick's thoughts had be occupied with scenes of their rather embarrassing reunion after Charles had been shot.

"I…err…" Erick considered making a joke about Charles cheating but it died in his throat, he knew that Charles had seen what he was so worried about, he decided that now was the time to face it.

"Look Charles, I was-" Erick was already planning his big long speech about the effects adrenalin and all shorts but he did not need to for Charles cut him off.

"No need for an explanation, my friend." Charles said kindly.

"But I-" Erick was again cut off.

"Erick stop, I understand fully." This was not entirely true, Charles knew why Erick had sent him those thoughts but he did not know the extent of the feelings behind them, which scared him because his own feeling for the older man were starting to grow past the appropriate amount for a 'friend'.

Alex very conveniently interrupted there conversation when it was starting to get awkward.

"Moira is downstairs?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes I know, could you send her up please" Charles replied calmly.

Alex was somewhat confused as he was sure that Moira had left the hospital as soon as she knew Charles would live to go and rat them to the CIA but he had trust in the professor so he indeed sent the upstairs.

"Charles what are you doing? She works for the CIA who abandoned us on that beach!" Erick tried not to yell but he failed, quite miserably.

"I need to know what they are going to do, have you not noticed that they have left us remarkably alone?"

"Of course I have but I put that down to them being-" for the third time that day Erick was cut off but this time by a soft knock at the door.

"Come in" Charles' voice rang out in the quite study.

"Charles, Erick" Moira nodded at them both as she took a seat in the only remaining arm chair. (The children had piled up sofa cushions)

"Moira, my dear, I am very sorry to drag you back into this again." Charles said softly as he looked at her intently, he was reading her mind to make sure they were not in immediate danger.

"I expected this sooner or later" she answered of handily, she was not paying full attention to Charles but to Erick who was staring at her intently, he was calculating the amount of metal on her person and if it was enough to keep her restrained.

_Does she have a gun?_

Charles' voice slipped into his mind easily.

_No _

_Good_

Although there metal conversation short it gave Erick confidence that Charles was in control of the situation as his power had been a little wayward recently.

"What does the CIA think about Cuba?" the question had come out rather harshly as the whole Cuba situation was still a little raw.

"Myself and the director have convinced the majority of people that we have control over the situation and there will never be another public display like that again, most have just moved on and don't speak of it anymore."

"So you lied?" it was Erick who spoke this time.

"Yes, what else was there?" many things ran though Erick's head at her words, most contained dank cells and torture equipment.

_Calm your mind _

_You know it was a possibly Charles_

"What are you really going to do about it?" Charles asked tentatively, he wasn't sure he was ready for a battle of rights with the CIA but he need to make sure his family was safe.

"As far as I know, nothing. The director seems to think if we ignore you you'll ignore us." This was more than Charles could have hoped for.

_Is she telling the truth?_

Erick's voice was like caramel in his mind.

_Yes, what I have to do now it rather brutal though_

"What do you have to do?" Erick did not mean to speak out loud but the idea of Charles doing anything brutal was absurd.

"This" Charles rose from his chair and tried to drag it over to where Moira sat frozen, his still bruised back protested and he let out a little yelp; Erick, seeing what Charles was trying to do, lifted the chair and placed it directly opposite Moira without moving from his own seat.

The younger man sat down opposite the woman who was responsible for so much change in his life and placed both of his hands on the side of her head, for one awful moment Erick thought Charles would kiss her but the mind reader only placed his forehead on hers to strengthen the telepathic connection the older man thought hopefully.

After about three minutes Moira sunk back into the armchair, her previously frozen face slacked into a sleepy expression.

"What did you do?" Erick asked half shocked and half impressed.

"I wiped something's from her memories and changed others" the younger man had become suddenly weary, he did not enjoy warping people's minds but it was a necessary evil.

"So we are relatively free?" Erick ask not allowing himself to sound hopeful.

"For now yes, they still have files on all of us but they are buried deep in the systems and I think it will take a while for people to rediscover them." Charles looked up at his closest friend, his face was a picture of relief which surprised Charles as he was expecting Erick to demand they go and destroy them.

"Maybe one day but not today"

"Pardon?" Charles asked confused

"You are tired and projecting old friend" Erick stated simply.

"Oh sorry, mind wiping takes a lot out of you" he replied cheekily as he regained control of his wondering mind.

Erick moved Charles' chair back to in front of their game (with Charles still in it).

"As much as I would like to carry on my friend we have a sleeping CIA agent to deal with."

Under normal circumstances moving an unconscious adult back into their bed which happened to be a half an hour drive away would have been difficult and run the risk of making you look like a murderer but when you have a man who can levitate and a man who can freeze anyone who saw you do it, the task at hand was completed without any difficulty and both men were home in time for what could have been dinner but as Sean had cooked it did not really classify as food.

Thanks for reading! :D I am on a bit of a writing streak so chapter 4 will probably be up tomorrow!


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